Kalli Abbott, Brigham Young University
Dialectic tensions pressure Southeast Asian highland minorities to conform to the demands of modern societies. One of these tensions among highland cultures today is created by conversions to Christianity. Specifically, Hmong communities in Northern Thailand are experiencing this religious change to a significant extent. Their traditional religious practices include a repertoire of ancestral and spiritual rituals influenced by Taoist and Confucian ritual systems; therefore, the influx of conversions to Protestant Christianity in Thailand today challenges these traditional systems, both intimately and on a larger scale. I propose that this shift in belief demonstrates not a complete conversion of belief, but rather a significant addition to already existing morals and ideologies. My research among Hmong in Northern Thailand provides evidence which suggests a plurality of belief visible in practice, speech, and conversion. Belonging to one religious congregation does not necessarily imply an inner loyalty to one specific belief or set of values. This research is vital to the growing field of the anthropology of Christianity because it reveals the plural nature of belief among the Hmong, and this pattern can be seen in the growing tumult of changing belief among other nations as well. My research outlines the importance of belief as expanding, built upon by new notions over time, rather than a static notion which changes dramatically because of crucial events such as conversion.